This application relates generally to surgical access systems and, more specifically, to obturators for or used in surgical access systems.
Surgical access systems facilitate minimally invasive surgery across a body wall and within a body cavity. For example, in abdominal surgery, trocars alone or in conjunction with other access devices provide a working channel across the abdominal wall to facilitate the use of instruments within the abdominal cavity. Trocar systems can include a cannula, which provides the working channel, and an obturator that is used to place the cannula across a body wall, such as the abdominal wall. The obturator is inserted into the working channel of the cannula and pushed through the body wall with a penetration or insertion force of sufficient magnitude to result in penetration of or entry through the body wall. Once the cannula has traversed the body wall, the obturator can be removed.
With the cannula in place, various instruments may be inserted through the cannula into the body cavity. One or more cannulas may be used during a procedure. These cannulas or trocars may be of different sizes, e.g., different diameters and lengths, to accommodate different sized or dimensioned instruments. Using an arrangement of trocars versus using the largest sized trocar is often more desirable to minimize trocar site defects and the invasiveness of the surgical procedure. Additionally, the largest sized trocars often do not accommodate small sized instruments as for example the instrument seals of such trocars are not sufficient to prevent the escape of gas when such small sized instruments are used. During the procedure, the surgeon manipulates the instruments in the cannulas, sometimes using more than one instrument at a time. A reduction in insertion force of a trocar into the body cavity is desired to prevent, reduce or eliminate uncontrolled entry into the body cavity and potential damage to organs, tissue or other prior inserted devices in the cavity and the incision or surgical access site.